Many institutions generate organic waste that requires proper disposal. For example, veterinary offices frequently require disposal of dead, and possibly diseased, animal carcasses. For many years burial and incineration (cremation) were the primary manners in which such tissue was disposed. In recent years tissue digesters have been increasingly used as an alternative to burial or incineration for the orderly disposition of tissue. Alkaline hydrolysis, which exposes the tissue to a strong alkaline (or base) solution, is a process used in many tissue digesters. Most, if not all, of the tissue is digested (dissolved) in the tissue digesters, and the dissolved tissue is then considered safe to discharge into the environment. The mineral ash of bones and teeth typically remain at the end of the process (approximately only five percent of the original weight and volume of a carcass or body), but is sterile and easily crushed into a powder that may be used as a soil additive or presented to the family in an urn in much the same way as ash from a crematory. Since most tissue disposal systems are large and expensive, veterinary offices and others in need of disposing of smaller animal bodies, such as typical household pets, would have to use outside disposal services for disposing of dead animals such as hiring an animal crematory.